EIGHT-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION COLLECTOR’S SET FEATURES
High-definition digital transfers of all fifteen Godzilla films made between 1954 and 1975, released together for the first time, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
High-definition digital transfer of Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956), the U.S.-release version of Godzilla
Japanese-release version of King Kong vs. Godzilla from 1962
Audio commentaries from 2011 on Godzilla and Godzilla, King of the Monsters featuring film historian David Kalat
International English-language dub tracks for Invasion of Astro-Monster, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and Terror of Mechagodzilla
Directors Guild of Japan interview with director Ishiro Honda, conducted by director Yoshimitsu Banno in 1990
Programs detailing the creation of Godzilla’s special effects and unused effects sequences from Toho releases including Destroy All Monsters
New interview with filmmaker Alex Cox about his admiration for the Showa-era Godzilla films
New and archival interviews with cast and crew members, including actors Bin Furuya, Tsugutoshi Komada, Haruo Nakajima, and Akira Takarada; composer Akira Ifukube; and effects technicians Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai
Interview with critic Tadao Sato from 2011
Illustrated audio essay from 2011 about the real-life tragedy that inspired Godzilla
New English subtitle translations
Trailers
PLUS: A lavishly illustrated deluxe hardcover book featuring an essay by cinema historian Steve Ryfle, notes on the films by cinema historian Ed Godziszewski, and new illustrations by Arthur Adams, Sophie Campbell, Becky Cloonan, Jorge Coelho, Geof Darrow, Simon Gane, Robert Goodin, Benjamin Marra, Monarobot, Takashi Okazaki, Angela Rizza, Yuko Shimizu, Bill Sienkiewicz, Katsuya Terada, Ronald Wimberly, and Chris Wisnia

This will be what finally kicks off my deep dive into Godzilla. Already grabbing the films from the other eras as well as stand-alones featuring characters later used in Godzilla films.

Right now I've got on order:
Kraken's release of Godzilla 1984
Lionsgate's OOP release of Godzilla vs. Biollante
Godzilla 2000 and all the Sony double features from the Heisei and Millennium era
Mill Creek's Mothra steelbook
Sony's The Rebirth of Mothra trilogy

Besides the American remakes and Shin Godzilla, what am I missing from the live-action films? I know I need to grab Frankenstein Conquers the World and Rodan, but those seem to only be available as expensive DVDs on Amazon. Are those the releases I need to track down for those particular films?

And also, it would be good to know, if it's the new 4K transfers, or if it's the old HD transfers?
The old transfers had really washed out colors and black levels, and looked more like upscales.
Even the 00:s movies looked really soft, with barely any fine details.

They finally did it. And I'm no snob, I love me some rubber suited monsta mash, but for Criterion to select a Godzilla boxset as No. 1000 is interesting. The head of Criterion could have wiggled any number of releases to be 1000. So it's quite purposeful. Will be fun to read some of the high brow backlash.

Japanese-release version of King Kong vs. Godzilla from 1962

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I'll like to know more about that. Last I heard the singular footage from the Japanese theatrical version exists only on 16mm home versions. It is what it is and I can accept that. But when rumors first swirled about a possible Criterion release this was foremost in my mind. What will be be getting? Will Criterion push harder on this point? After all to license this they will need to work through Universal and that allow adds another layer of headaches. Would it be worth their time?

The lack of ballyhoo regarding the transfers has me worried. Toho is notorious for supply lackluster transfers and refusing to allow outsiders to do their own telecine or work from the original masters. Criterion was able to get some good results with Gojira and took the next step to acquire the rest of the franchise so I had hoped they had a good relationship and worked out an agreement to do new 4k restorations with Criterion's input. But I have serious doubts.

I'm VERY interested in the Japanese-release of King Kong vs. Gozilla. I had finally picked up the Universal Blu ray last week and just watched it over the weekend. It reminded me that I have a crappy bootleg DVD of the Japanese-release somewhere in my basement. I was gonna go digging around for it but now I won't have to!

I'm excited about this release and will certainly buy it right when it comes out, but I do wish it had just a standard box packaging. I like the artwork and everything, but it seems like that set will be easily damaged, plus it's really tall and will be hard to store on a shelf.

I don't have much interest in Godzilla movies but I did enjoy Destroy all Monsters and I do love a good, comprehensive set like this so I'll probably pick it up after release, assuming it drops in price like the Bergman box.

There's a guy on Blu-ray.com that's making custom covers that will fit in the normal Criterion cases. He's working on individual covers, and since there are multiple movies per disc he's made 2 covers for 4-disc cases which you can see here:https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=319810&page=34

They aren't finalized, but I think they look great so far. I'll definitely be using those so I don't have to worry about ripping the package or scratching the discs.

All 15 of the main feature films as well as the bonus film GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS (1956) have had some light restoration done on our end. Aside from the 1954 GODZILLA, the other 14 movies are preexisting HD transfers from Toho and Universal.

The Japanese-release version of KING KONG VS. GODZILLA is being presented as a supplemental feature as received from a pre-existing Toho HD digital master. We are working closely with Toho on this release and the 4K remaster you're referencing was not something that was provided to us for this.

Due to the parameters of our licensing agreement with Toho, the English-language dub tracks are only included for INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER, SON OF GODZILLA, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, GODZILLA VS. MEGALON, GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA, and TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA

Do note that the alternate English dub tracks included are the original dubs produced by Toho for the international prints of their films at the time of their release.

These dubs are not the English audio recorded for the first US-specific releases many of these movies were given by Henry Saperstein and UPA, for films like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS and GODZILLA VS. THE THING (the US-release version of MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA). Those films are different works, and it was Toho's preference that we use the dubs that they produced and supplied. Those US-release versions could not be included in our set.

I'm not the least bit surprised. Toho is being Toho. I don't care about English dubs as I will only be watching with the Japanese tracks; I just hope they subtitle the literal Japanese and not the English dub. Criterion should be pretty good about that though so I'm not too worried.

I'm still disappointed we're getting the same old masters. It was possible the reason why those old transfers were unceremoniously dumped on streaming was to generate more funds to do a proper restoration. But I knew that was wishful thinking based on what we know of Toho. Hopefully Criterion has access to the original scans; but I wouldn't be surprised if they're left just trying to fix Toho's digital "restorations" instead.

I already own about 20 Godzilla films on blu-ray, including five titles that will be in this set. I'll certainly be buying it but want to see if I can get it around half off suggest retail price.

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Well at a 50% sale it'll be $112.50. That'll be $7.50 each (not counting Gojira '54 / Godzilla '56 twice as some may). Sounds good to me.

My main thought is that we already know Toho is doing new 4k scans. So these are already behind the times. Do I want to buy this when I know Toho has already moved on to bigger and better things? Since Toho is a stick in the mud about extras we don't even have some unique extras with these.